The World's Progress Part 13

The New Empire saw a brief period of military successes, but they rested on a slight foundation. The Egyptians were naturally poor soldiers. A strong and fearless general was able to rouse them to action, and by meeting detached tribes, they were able to overcome them. Then with confidence born of success, they sometimes made a brilliant progress to the civilization of Mesopotamia. Asiatics had not yet learned the real nature of those to whom they offered tribute. When once it was learned, tribute was no longer forthcoming, or indeed, it was sometimes demanded by the Asiatics of Egypt.

Of the life of a private soldier, we know very little. During times of peace he was a tiller of the soil, or a common laborer. He thought no hardship greater than that which compelled him to enter the service of an army. He regarded war as the greatest evil and was disheartened by the slightest defeat. This was poor material to convert into effective soldiers and only when the Egyptian king received a large number of mercenaries into his ranks was his army particularly efficient.

Many times several thousand soldiers were dispatched to escort workmen sent to obtain granite for the king's tomb. It is probable that their duties were less military than civil, for they no doubt were set to cutting out the granite from the quarry and a.s.sisted in transporting it to the building site.

Of the equipment of the soldiers, it seems that in early times they carried simply a bow, wearing ostrich feathers on their heads as a token of victory. Later they carried shields and spears or battle axes. The order of battle in later times was to place chariots in the front and rear, with strong detachments of infantry between them. Ramses II.

caused the whole story of his victory over the Hitt.i.te king at Kadesh to be painted in his temple. This is one of the best sources for military history during the New Empire. "We see how the soldiers of the 'first army of Amon' pitch their camp; the shields are placed side by side so as to construct a great four-cornered enclosure. One entrance only is left, and this is fortified with barricades and is defended by four divisions of infantry. In the middle of the camp a large square s.p.a.ce indicates the position of the royal tent; the smaller tents of the officers surround it. The wide s.p.a.ce between these tents and the outer enclosure serves as a camping-ground for the common soldiers and for the cattle, and here we see a series of life-like scenes, in the representation of which the Egyptian artist has evidently taken great delight. In one corner stands the rows of war-chariots; the horses are unharnessed and paw the ground contentedly, while they receive their food. Close by are posted the two-wheeled baggage cars; the oxen are looking round at the food, and do not appear to trouble themselves about the king's big tame lion, which has lain down near them wearied out. The most characteristic animal in the camp, however, is the donkey with his double panniers in which he has to carry the heavy sacks and jars of provisions. We meet with him here, there, and everywhere, in all manner of positions; for instance, he drops on his knee indignantly, as if he could carry his panniers no longer; he prances about when the soldiers want to lade him with the sacks; he lies down and brays, or he takes his ease rolling in the dust near his load. The boys, also, whose business it is to fasten up the donkeys to pegs, contribute to the general liveliness of the camp; in more than one place they have begun to quarrel about their work, and in their anger they beat each other with the pegs. Other boys belonging to the camp have to hang the baggage on posts, or to bring food for the soldiers, or to fetch the skins of water. These boys insist upon quarreling too; the skins are thrown down, and they use their fists freely.

"In contrast to these scenes of daily life in the camp, we have on the other hand a representation of the wild confusion of battle. Close to the bank of the Orontes is the royal chariot, in which the king stands drawn up to his full height; behind and on each side the chariots of the Cheta[3] surround him; while many more are crossing the stream. The Egyptian chariots are indeed in the rear of the king, but in order to come to his help they would have first to force a way through the chariots of the Cheta. In the meantime, the Pharaoh fights by himself, and pours down such a frightful rain of arrows on the enemy that they fly in wild confusion. Hit by the arrows, their horses take fright, dash the chariots to pieces, and throw out the warriors, or they get loose and breaking through their own ranks, spread confusion everywhere. The dead and the wounded Cheta fall one upon another; those who escape the arrows of the king throw themselves into the Orontes and try to swim across to Kadesh, which is seen on the opposite bank surrounded by walls and trenches....

"Whilst the Pharaoh thus slays the Cheta, the prince of the latter people stands watching the battle from the corner between Kadesh and the Orontes in the midst of a mighty square of 8,000 foot soldiers of the elite of his troops; 'he does not come out to fight, because he is afraid before his Majesty, since he has seen his Majesty.' When he sees that the battle is lost, he says in admiration: 'He is as Sutech the glorious, Ba'al lives in his body.'"[4]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Erman: Life in Ancient Egypt, 415.

[2] Maspero: Ancient Egypt, 18.

[3] That is, the Hitt.i.te king.

[4] Erman: Life in Ancient Egypt, 529.

CHAPTER XII.

PRAISING LEARNING.[1]

I have seen violence, I have seen violence, give thy heart after letters.

I have seen one free from labors; consider there is not anything beyond letters.

Love letters as thy mother. I make its beauty go in thy face.

It is a greater possession than all besides.

He who has commenced to avail himself is from his infancy a counsellor.

He is sent to perform commissions.

He who does not go is in sack-cloth.

I have not seen a blacksmith on a commission, a founder who goes on an emba.s.sy.

I have seen the blacksmith at his work at the mouth of the furnace.

His fingers like things of crocodiles, he smells worse than the eggs of fishes.

Every carpenter carrying tools,--is he more at rest than the laborer?

I tell you the fisherman suffers more than any employment.

Consider, is he not toiling on the river? he is mixed with the crocodiles.

Should the clumps of papyrus diminish, then he is crying for help.

If he has not been told that a crocodile is not there, terrors blind him.

Consider, there is not an employment dest.i.tute of superior ones Except the scribe, who is first, for he knows letters; he is greater than they.

Shouldst thou walk after great men, thou art to proceed with great knowledge.

Do not say proud words. Be sealed in thyself alone.

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.

The Greek loved learning for itself alone. Not so the Egyptian. He, too, praised learning and considered no calling so worthy as that of the scribe. It was not because an education lifted one out of a sordid world to purer heights of knowledge, however, but rather, because the scribe was exempt from physical exertion, and if ambitious and persevering, might find all official doors open to him. A citizen wished his son to receive an education in order that he might occupy a position superior and less arduous than he could otherwise hope to fill. The lot of the laborer in Egypt was hard. Working constantly he could but provide himself and family with their scanty food and scanty clothing. At any time he might be pressed into public service and here he was fortunate if he received "one clean garment once a month," in addition to his monthly rations. Scribes were safe from physical toil. Quite naturally, it followed that a family would make every possible sacrifice that one of the children might be fitted for a life more safe and comfortable than the average. No higher ideal, no loftier motive seems to have actuated the parent than this: to qualify his son for an easy and lucrative position in life.

There were elementary schools in Egypt in an early age. These were open to all children, who probably paid a small fee to the teacher. Gradually also, there grew up around the temples schools for the training of boys for the priesthood. As the empire grew and tribute was asked and received from many tribes and countries, many scribes--copyists and accountants--were needed in the service of the government, and schools were opened in connection with the court to educate boys to meet this new demand.

Having spent a few years in the elementary school, the average boy was set to work to a.s.sist with the cattle, gather fuel, care for the ducks and geese about his home, and later was put to learn a trade--generally the trade of his father. However, if a boy showed special apt.i.tude for learning or seemed more alert and clever than ordinary, he was sent to the school for scribes. Here the training was vigorous. The scribe would waken the youth, calling: "The books are already in the hands of thy companions, take hold of thy clothes and call for thy sandals!"

Discipline was rigid indeed. An old adage held that a boy's ears are placed on his back--he hears if he is flogged.

You will remember how complex were the Egyptian styles of writing--both hieroglyphic and demotic. Consequently to be able to read and write was considered a great accomplishment. Having mastered the art of writing, the youth was set next to copying. Many of the old copy books still exist, for it was customary to place them in the tomb with the deceased.

Three pages a day was the usual lesson. "By the age of ten or twelve,"

says Maspero, "the child was ... apprenticed to a scribe in some office, who would undertake to make him a _learned scribe_. The boy accompanied his master to the office or work-yard, and there pa.s.sed entire months copying letters, circulars, legal doc.u.ments, or accounts, which he did not at first understand, but which he faithfully remembered.... The pupil copied and copied, the master inserted forgotten words, corrected the faults of spelling, and drew on the margin the signs or groups unskillfully traced. When the book was finished and the apprentice could write all the formulas from memory, the master entrusted him with the composition of a few letters, gradually increasing the number and adding new difficulties. As soon as he had fairly mastered the ordinary daily routine his education was ended, and an unimportant post was sought."[2]

The Egyptians never investigated a subject until they reduced it to a science. A certain knowledge of geometry was necessary to determine boundaries of land, so valuable along the river that very small areas were sometimes in dispute. A knowledge sufficient for this purpose the Egyptians possessed, but they never delved deeper into the matter and became proficient in it. They studied astronomy and made charts of portions of the heavens. They studied arithmetic, but never, for example, wrote a fraction with a numerator larger than 1; instead of writing 2/3 or 5/8 they wrote: 1/3, 1/3; 1/2, 1/8. It has taken much patience and some ingenuity to understand problems found already worked out in the copy books.

The subject of medicine was deemed important, but the ancient Egyptians knew nothing about it, generally speaking. Magic, drugs, herbs and incantations were used together. Believing that the welfare of the soul depended upon the preservation of the body, students never had the opportunity of dissecting bodies, either animal or human. They had no idea of the vital organs, and when they were successful in relieving a patient, it was when, like some old herb woman, they had learned the properties of healing plants and had watched their effects in many cases until they became skillful in administering them. When one was ill, it was thought that an evil spirit had entered his body. By magic words this must be driven out before recovery could be hoped for. Magic greatly aided medicine, according to this view. Here is a formula for a magic mixture: "Take two grains of incense, two fumigations, two jars of cedar oil, two jars of tas, two jars of wine, two jars of spirits of wine. Apply it at the place of thy heart. Thou art protected against the accidents of life; thou art protected against a violent death; thou art protected against fire; thou are not ruined on earth, and thou escapest in heaven."

LITERATURE.

Egypt seems to have been lacking in any considerable number of literary works. Records were kept in the temples; treatises on religion, magic and medicine have been found. The Book of the Dead was familiar to the living and indispensable to the departed. Some folk lore, hymns of worship and of victory, and a few stories, more or less complete, remain. Vast numbers of papyri have undoubtedly perished, but reference would probably be made in existing ma.n.u.scripts to great productions, and these are lacking. Giving all credit to what has been recovered and allowing for the destruction of time, the fact remains that in literature Egypt was not productive.

There are no literary remains antedating the Middle Empire; however, we have traces of folk songs and of myths which were earlier known. The old belief that the Egyptians had no secular literature was mistaken. Our greatest sources of knowledge regarding their literature have been the tombs and temples, and these were not places in which a people would have chosen to preserve its lighter literature.

It is probable that just as the workmen sing today, while they work along the Nile, so too they chanted in earliest times. Under the most trying conditions in Egypt, laborers sang as they worked. The scribes did not think it worthy of their dignity to chronicle folk songs.

Probably little thought was ever given to them. Occasionally a few lines are quoted beneath some tomb pictures to make it more vivid.

"The herdsman wading in the mud as he drives his sheep over the fields from which the flood has not yet entirely retreated, says to his flock: 'In the water walks your shepherd with the fishes; with the catfish talketh he; with the fish he changeth greeting.' Another song accompanied the work equivalent to threshing. The ancient Egyptians, like the Israelites, did not use flails, but after scattering the corn on the threshing-floor, they drove oxen over it to tread out the grain.

Then was sung with variations: 'Thresh, oh ye oxen! Thresh for yourselves! Oh ye oxen thresh for yourselves! Thresh straw for your fodder, thresh grain for your master. Take ye no rest, cool is the air this day.'"[3]

Mythological tales grew out of an attempt to explain natural phenomena--the rising or setting sun, the struggle between light and darkness. All phenomena which attracted sufficient attention furnished material for myths. It has been observed for instance, that certain stars never set, whereas others after performing their courses sank below the horizon. The Egyptians expressed this by the myth of the Crocodile of the West, which fed upon the setting stars.

"The sunrise and sunset, alternation of day and night, the solar drama in all its details, furnished the subject of Egyptian mythology. In other countries the sun-G.o.d rode in a chariot; in Egypt he rode in a boat. Hence the sky is considered an expanse of water, the Nile being the earthly representative. Seb is the earth, Nut the heaven. Osiris their son, is the sun and is wedded to Isis, the dawn. From their union sprang Horus, the Sun in his full strength. Set the destroyer, is another child of Seb and Nut. He is darkness and weds Nephthys, the Sunset. The contest between Seb and Osiris is the constant subject of mythological story."

Traces of these early folk songs and early myths survived in Egyptian literature. The literature of the Middle Empire shows an eager interest in travel. Of the few books that remain from this period several relate adventures in distant parts.

Most of the remaining literature belongs to the New Empire. Lyrical and didactic poems, stories, records and doc.u.ments were then produced in considerable number. It would appear that the Egyptians never wrote a history of their country. Accounts, more or less in detail, cover several reigns, but nothing like a chronological treatise of their development was apparently undertaken. The New Empire knew far less of the Old Empire than we know today.

In the realm of religious writing, the Book of the Dead was most important. Its negative confession to be made before the judges of the dead would imply a high degree of morality, but the truth was that it came into being in an early stage when words were thought identical with the thing itself. We find all peoples pa.s.sing through a period when great importance was given the spoken word. "I have not been idle; I have not been intoxicated; I have not told secrets; I have not told falsehoods; I have not defrauded; I have not slandered; I have not caused tears; I have given food to the hungry; drink to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked." That confession was probably formulated in this early period when such stress was given to the spoken word. Later, when people understood the difference between the name and the thing itself the confession remained the same, because all things pertaining to religion are last to change.

The _Precepts of Ptah-hotep_, prince of the Fifth dynasty, is one of the oldest known books in the world. It is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris and is made up of what would be equivalent to twenty printed pages of precepts written to admonish the young. The following indicate their nature:

"Be not arrogant because of that which thou knowest, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire."

"If thou hast become great after having been little, harden not thy heart; thou art only the steward of the good things of G.o.d."

"Let thy face be cheerful as long as thou livest; hast any one come out of the coffin after having once entered it?"